GR1, Our Original Ruck and the Last You’ll Ever Need

When GORUCK was only an idea, I bet every dollar I had on an idea for a simple black bag that would become GR1. In that process, I got a lot of feedback, almost all of it negative:

The backpack market is too crowded, good luck.

It’s too simple, it’s supposed to have your logo all over it or nobody will know who made it.

It feels tough but it weighs too much, the outdoor market will never use it.

There’s too much MOLLE webbing.

There’s too little MOLLE webbing.

More Velcro.

Less Velcro.

Other backpacks have those pencil holders. Why doesn’t yours?

It should have elastic on the side for a water bottle pocket.

Where’s the headphone jack?

The shoulder straps are too thick.

And yet if you’re a slave to all criticism nothing will ever get done. So we did it our way and counted on the universal truth that simple and classy is a timeless sexy look, and when it performs as we knew it would, it’s a winning idea.

The first time I ever felt great about GR1 was when a Special Forces buddy came back from Afghanistan in 2011 and told me he used his on every single raid he went on, which was pretty much every night. It was a validation of usage in the harshest environment known to man, and he trusted it as I’d hoped he would. At that point, I knew we were onto something special because he was back in America, still using it as his dayruck.